Frieland Zander Foolish 

Frieland Zander Foolish

Above is my April Fool's Day present from last year. Foolish was born two weeks late, at which point calves are often gigantic bulls. However, when I found her with her mother and took her to clean her up and put some iodine on her navel, I noticed she was a heifer. Quite a shock, but at least a pleasant one. She has a marking on her face which makes her look very comical and silly so she became Foolish, despite the fact that we generally name our calves starting with the first letter of their dam's name, meaning her name should have started with a 'W". I took Foolish to last year's Altamont fair where she went on to take second place in the Junior heifer class. I am hoping to take her back again this year. We are all in full summer swing. My dad and brother are doing the field work, mom is gardening, and I am getting the show stock ready to go. Foolish has already had baths, been lead around and around in circles, and had a 'body' clip. A body clip is basically using a set of clippers to take off all of the hair on the animals body from the back of the head to the rump, with some work done on the legs and underside of the belly. I thought about getting a preliminary clip done on her head, but wanted to leave her some facial protection from the flies and the sun. We'll just have to wait and see how she does in August. Hopefully all the work will pay off.

Moraes Tops Two Million in Earnings

Two Time World Champion Adriano Moraes has crossed another milestone. The 1994 and 2001 World Champion passed the Two million dollar mark, pushing him into third on the list of highest money earning bull riders of all time. This extraodinary cowboy is currently ranked second in this year's race for the title, putting him in position to win a third world title. If he does so, he will be well over the three million dollar mark, and might even be able to pass Chris Shivers, who sits at the top of the list of money winning bull riders.

Another pair of World Champions, Justin McBride, and Mike Lee are also getting ready to cross money earning land marks. McBride is rapidly approaching the three million dollar mark, while Lee is quickly closing in on two million. Lee is also ranked very well in this year's standings at third overall. Moraes and Lee are both trailing behind Brazilian Guilherme Marchi, Marchi leads Moraes be 598.0 points, and Lee by 1,063.5, amounts which can easily be made up in a single event. McBride sits in 13th overall at the moment, despite missing about 2 months worth of competition while awaiting the birth of his first child. He trailes Marchi by over three thousand points, but with a few good showings could make that up.

The race for the buckle in Vegas for the bull riders of the PBR's Built Ford Tough Series will continue this weekend (June 24-25) in Dallas, TX, at the Fritos Invitational. Draws for the first go round should be posted in the next few days .

Current Built Ford Tough Series Standings:

1. Guilherme Marchi
2. Adriano Moraes
3. Mike Lee
4. Sean Willingham
5. Chris Shivers
6. Jody Newberry
7. Brian Canter
8. Travis Briscoe
9. Wiley Peterson
10. Ross Coleman

Update on Dusty LaBeth

Bull riding fans who watched the action from Albuquerque, NM, will likely remember the terrifying wreck that KS cowboy Dusty LaBeth suffered early in the second go round after coming off Crooked Tooth back in early April. Dusty appeared to get his leg stuck in his bull rope, twisting it behind him as he landed and badly fracturing his femur. According to Dusty's website he is healing as well as can be expected. He is apparently off his crutches and now getting around with the help of the cane and his doctor is optimistic that he should be able to fully bear his weight and walk more easily in about another 10 weeks or so. It will still be a long time before he is back on bulls and riding again, but his progress is definitely a good sign.

And the Name Is...

The running of the fourth 'Name the Calf' contest has come to a close. A big thank you to all who participated. After the hat had been consulted Lakota's baby became known as Takala here at Northview. The name Takala was submitted via email by a friend of mine. I looked it up, as per my mother's request (making sure it didn't mean something rather inappropriate), and according to the Baby Name Box, Takala means Corn Tassel and is of African origin. Personally, I think that is fairly appropriate for an animal that will spend much of its adult life eating corn based products, such as grain and corn silage. I'm going to try to get some new photos of her so that everyone who put a name in can see how much our little girl has grown. As with all the other contests we will keep a list of the other names that were submitted for possible future use. Check back to see if your name shows up on another calf.